The Telegraph, UK carries an article, entitled "The battle for Britain's soul begins here." An interesting paragraph is found in the article. Here is the amazing paragraph: "So when people talk about Britain losing touch with its Christian roots, which Christianity do they mean? The answer lies in the Thirty-Nine Articles, written in 1563, and the basis of the trinity of Church, Crown and state. Scotland, Wales and Ireland contribute to the soul of Britain but the special status given to the Church of England put the Articles at the core of the Christianity that has shaped us. That core remained intact at an institutional level until recently." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9150332/The-battle-for-Britains-soul-begins-here.html
The threat of schism within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion over women bishops and homosexuals is real enough; but the next archbishop will also be expected to take part in an even more bitter battle for the soul of Britain. It is being fought now, in the courts and the Commons, on the streets and in broadcasting studios, with name-calling and even death threats, by men and women with passionately held views on what it means to be British now and what this country should stand for.
The fiercest rows, as ever, are about sex and love. Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat Equalities Minister, has no doubt that this is a nation in which men should be able to marry men, and women marry women, on the same terms as other couples.
“There is no rolling back whatsoever,” she said on Thursday, launching a three-month government consultation on same-sex marriage, despite clearly having made up her mind already. “The essential question is not whether we are going to introduce same-sex civil marriage, but how.”
The change to the law she is proposing will only apply to registry offices and other places in England and Wales where civil weddings take place under licence, so churches will not be forced to allow same-sex couples a religious ceremony. “It will remain not legal to marry people of the same sex on religious premises… I don’t want to see any polarisation between religious beliefs and gay rights. It is not a competition.”
But that is exactly how it feels to some Christians, who feel under threat. So far, 229,113 people have signed a petition by the Coalition for Marriage opposing any attempt to alter the legal definition of marriage as “the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others”.
A poll for The Sunday Telegraph last week showed that 80 per cent of voters thought same-sex marriage equality should not be a priority for this parliament.
The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, said: “Marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. I don’t think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is.” For saying so, he received threatening and racist emails. The Conservative MP David Burrowes, a Christian father of six, received “death threats” for opposing his own Government’s change.
There is, of course, more than one Christian view. Some of the Pentecostal churches growing so fast in our cities would consider homosexuality the work of a demon. On the other hand, 100 Anglican clergy in London have called for the right to hold civil partnership ceremonies in church.
The respected theologian and Dean of St Albans, Dr Jeffrey John, who has missed out twice on becoming a bishop because of his sexuality, although celibate, said: “We readily bless the second and even third marriages of couples who never darken our doors, yet we reject hundreds of our own faithful clergy and lay people who long to bring their love and commitment before God and ask His blessing.”
So when people talk about Britain losing touch with its Christian roots, which Christianity do they mean? The answer lies in the Thirty-Nine Articles, written in 1563, and the basis of the trinity of Church, Crown and state. Scotland, Wales and Ireland contribute to the soul of Britain but the special status given to the Church of England put the Articles at the core of the Christianity that has shaped us. That core remained intact at an institutional level until recently.
Now the ties that bind Church and state are snapping. The population has changed. The claims of Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and other faiths must be recognised, as must atheism. Because the Government wants our votes, it often takes the lead on social change. The Church sees itself as standing up for enduring truths.
The brilliant, dedicated people working in the parishes – as in other faith groups – were doing the Big Society long before David Cameron named it. But as an institution, the Church of England is failing. It lacks the money, priests and people to care for every soul in every parish. It must find new ways of being the national Church for a nation that has moved on.
“There are an awful lot of people now who don’t really know how religion works, let alone Christianity,” said Dr Williams. “Does wearing a cross offend people who have no faith, or non-Christians? I don’t think it does.”
He was talking about the case of Nadia Eweida, suspended from her job as a BA check-in clerk in 2006 for breaching the company code by wearing a cross; and that of Shirley Chaplin, who lost her job after refusing to hide the cross she wore as a ward nurse for the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust. Both have taken their cases to the European Court of Human Rights.
The Government’s lawyers argue that wearing a cross is not “a requirement of the faith” and so not protected under law.
But the Prime Minister is said to support the women, and may consider taking action if the European court doesn’t back them.
Judges in Strasbourg are also considering the case of Lillian Ladele, who says she was forced to resign from her job as a registrar in Islington in 2007 because of her Christian beliefs; and that of Gary McFarlane, sacked by Relate for refusing to give sex therapy to homosexual couples.
“The inability to find a way to accommodate the sincerely held beliefs of someone like Gary McFarlane creates a tyranny,” the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, said recently. “There are deep forces at work in Western society, hollowing out the values of Christianity and driving them to the margins.”
Those words were provoked by a High Court judge who ruled that a town council in Devon was unlawful in holding prayers at the start of meetings; but the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles gave councils the power to ignore it. What’s happening here is not persecution, however close some Christian leaders may come to saying that it is. Instead, it’s the piecemeal – and often painful – working out of new realities.
Christianity gave us fair play, and in multicultural Britain, the courts and state instruments of all kinds must be seen to be fair to people of all faiths and none.
Not that we are turning our back on God. Professor Richard Dawkins commissioned a poll that showed only 54 per cent of the population identified themselves as Christian. But that means 33.4 million people care enough to call themselves Christians, even if they don’t go to church.
There are signs all around us – in roadside memorials, for example – of an improvised, individualistic, superstitious but still sincere folk faith that is, as Dr Williams once put it, “haunted by Christianity”. It is also increasingly informed by other cultures.
It is held quietly and privately by millions but is often missed because spirituality is now a marketplace, in which those who shout loudest – the fundamentalists of both faith and atheism – get the most attention.
The ties that bind the Church to the Crown would also seem to be hanging by a thread. The Queen swore in 1953 to uphold the faith of the Anglican Church alone, but her son’s coronation service will surely recognise the presence of many faiths. Even Her Majesty recognises that change must come. “The role of our Established Church is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of all other religions. It has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country,” she said recently.
That was radical, coming from her, but it presents a way forward that may allow the Church of England to remake itself. The House of Windsor is expert at that. “Faith plays a key role in the identity of many millions of people, providing not only a system of belief but also a sense of belonging,” said the Queen. There may be many battles to fight over the details, but the new Archbishop will have at least one ally who knows that, even now, faith remains at the heart of who we are.
* Cole Moreton is the author of ‘Is God Still An Englishman?’ (Abacus), which is available from Telegraph Books for £9.99 plus 99p p&p. Call 0844 871 1516 or go to books.telegraph.co.uk
The battle for Britain's soul begins here
The next Archbishop of Canterbury will have his work cut out as the nation negotiates a painful transition of faith.
Dr Rowan Williams is to step down as Archbishop of Canterbury Photo: GETTY
What do we believe in? That used to be an easy question for the British to answer: Queen and country, fair play, family and a nice cup of tea. Now, though, it’s up for grabs.
The next man to become Archbishop of Canterbury will need “the constitution of an ox and the skin of a rhinoceros”, said Dr Rowan Williams, announcing his retirement on Friday. His successor will step straight into a fight, and not just with his own people.
The threat of schism within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion over women bishops and homosexuals is real enough; but the next archbishop will also be expected to take part in an even more bitter battle for the soul of Britain. It is being fought now, in the courts and the Commons, on the streets and in broadcasting studios, with name-calling and even death threats, by men and women with passionately held views on what it means to be British now and what this country should stand for.
The fiercest rows, as ever, are about sex and love. Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat Equalities Minister, has no doubt that this is a nation in which men should be able to marry men, and women marry women, on the same terms as other couples.
“There is no rolling back whatsoever,” she said on Thursday, launching a three-month government consultation on same-sex marriage, despite clearly having made up her mind already. “The essential question is not whether we are going to introduce same-sex civil marriage, but how.”
The change to the law she is proposing will only apply to registry offices and other places in England and Wales where civil weddings take place under licence, so churches will not be forced to allow same-sex couples a religious ceremony. “It will remain not legal to marry people of the same sex on religious premises… I don’t want to see any polarisation between religious beliefs and gay rights. It is not a competition.”
But that is exactly how it feels to some Christians, who feel under threat. So far, 229,113 people have signed a petition by the Coalition for Marriage opposing any attempt to alter the legal definition of marriage as “the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others”.
A poll for The Sunday Telegraph last week showed that 80 per cent of voters thought same-sex marriage equality should not be a priority for this parliament.
The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, said: “Marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. I don’t think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is.” For saying so, he received threatening and racist emails. The Conservative MP David Burrowes, a Christian father of six, received “death threats” for opposing his own Government’s change.
There is, of course, more than one Christian view. Some of the Pentecostal churches growing so fast in our cities would consider homosexuality the work of a demon. On the other hand, 100 Anglican clergy in London have called for the right to hold civil partnership ceremonies in church.
The respected theologian and Dean of St Albans, Dr Jeffrey John, who has missed out twice on becoming a bishop because of his sexuality, although celibate, said: “We readily bless the second and even third marriages of couples who never darken our doors, yet we reject hundreds of our own faithful clergy and lay people who long to bring their love and commitment before God and ask His blessing.”
So when people talk about Britain losing touch with its Christian roots, which Christianity do they mean? The answer lies in the Thirty-Nine Articles, written in 1563, and the basis of the trinity of Church, Crown and state. Scotland, Wales and Ireland contribute to the soul of Britain but the special status given to the Church of England put the Articles at the core of the Christianity that has shaped us. That core remained intact at an institutional level until recently.
Now the ties that bind Church and state are snapping. The population has changed. The claims of Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and other faiths must be recognised, as must atheism. Because the Government wants our votes, it often takes the lead on social change. The Church sees itself as standing up for enduring truths.
The brilliant, dedicated people working in the parishes – as in other faith groups – were doing the Big Society long before David Cameron named it. But as an institution, the Church of England is failing. It lacks the money, priests and people to care for every soul in every parish. It must find new ways of being the national Church for a nation that has moved on.
“There are an awful lot of people now who don’t really know how religion works, let alone Christianity,” said Dr Williams. “Does wearing a cross offend people who have no faith, or non-Christians? I don’t think it does.”
He was talking about the case of Nadia Eweida, suspended from her job as a BA check-in clerk in 2006 for breaching the company code by wearing a cross; and that of Shirley Chaplin, who lost her job after refusing to hide the cross she wore as a ward nurse for the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust. Both have taken their cases to the European Court of Human Rights.
The Government’s lawyers argue that wearing a cross is not “a requirement of the faith” and so not protected under law.
But the Prime Minister is said to support the women, and may consider taking action if the European court doesn’t back them.
Judges in Strasbourg are also considering the case of Lillian Ladele, who says she was forced to resign from her job as a registrar in Islington in 2007 because of her Christian beliefs; and that of Gary McFarlane, sacked by Relate for refusing to give sex therapy to homosexual couples.
“The inability to find a way to accommodate the sincerely held beliefs of someone like Gary McFarlane creates a tyranny,” the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, said recently. “There are deep forces at work in Western society, hollowing out the values of Christianity and driving them to the margins.”
Those words were provoked by a High Court judge who ruled that a town council in Devon was unlawful in holding prayers at the start of meetings; but the Communities Secretary Eric Pickles gave councils the power to ignore it. What’s happening here is not persecution, however close some Christian leaders may come to saying that it is. Instead, it’s the piecemeal – and often painful – working out of new realities.
Christianity gave us fair play, and in multicultural Britain, the courts and state instruments of all kinds must be seen to be fair to people of all faiths and none.
Not that we are turning our back on God. Professor Richard Dawkins commissioned a poll that showed only 54 per cent of the population identified themselves as Christian. But that means 33.4 million people care enough to call themselves Christians, even if they don’t go to church.
There are signs all around us – in roadside memorials, for example – of an improvised, individualistic, superstitious but still sincere folk faith that is, as Dr Williams once put it, “haunted by Christianity”. It is also increasingly informed by other cultures.
It is held quietly and privately by millions but is often missed because spirituality is now a marketplace, in which those who shout loudest – the fundamentalists of both faith and atheism – get the most attention.
The ties that bind the Church to the Crown would also seem to be hanging by a thread. The Queen swore in 1953 to uphold the faith of the Anglican Church alone, but her son’s coronation service will surely recognise the presence of many faiths. Even Her Majesty recognises that change must come. “The role of our Established Church is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of all other religions. It has a duty to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country,” she said recently.
That was radical, coming from her, but it presents a way forward that may allow the Church of England to remake itself. The House of Windsor is expert at that. “Faith plays a key role in the identity of many millions of people, providing not only a system of belief but also a sense of belonging,” said the Queen. There may be many battles to fight over the details, but the new Archbishop will have at least one ally who knows that, even now, faith remains at the heart of who we are.
* Cole Moreton is the author of ‘Is God Still An Englishman?’ (Abacus), which is available from Telegraph Books for £9.99 plus 99p p&p. Call 0844 871 1516 or go to books.telegraph.co.uk
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